The singular styles of filmmakers in the Woche der Kritik (aka Berlin Critics’ Week) often result in some of the year’s most under-appreciated and formally exciting cinema. I’ve covered this section of Berlinale for the past three years and each year, I find at least a few movies that I continue to think about long after watching them. The unfortunate reality remains that many of these films don’t find distribution or seem to get lost in the shuffle––especially the short films––because of their experimental nature. A few movies from the past few years I’d like to single out here as absolutely worth going out of your way to find and watch: Adam Khalil & Bailey Sweitzer’s Nosferasta: First Bite, Ekaterina Selenkina’s Detours, Manoj Leonel Jahson & Shyam Sunder’s Kuthiraivaal, and Kamal Aljafari’s An Unusual Summer.
Now for my favorites from this year...
Now for my favorites from this year...
- 3/3/2023
- by Soham Gadre
- The Film Stage
What will be your first movie of 2023? If you’re reading this it’s likely you put some (let’s be honest: too much) thought into what commences the cinematic year. The Criterion Channel’s January lineup will put some good things front and center: they’re launching a 20-film cinema verité series that highlights all major figures of the form; an eight-film Mike Leigh retrospective that focuses on his little-seen, lesser-discussed BBC features produced between 1973 and 1984; a series on Abbas Kiarostami’s studies of childhood; and because you’ve either seen Eo or have it marked to watch, Jerzy Skolimowski’s three most-acclaimed films should be of equal note.
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The African Desperate (Martine Syms)
Early into Martine Syms’ The African Desperate, Mfa finalist Palace (Diamond Stingily) sits for her last exam in an upstate New York art school tucked deep in the woods. It’s the end of a three-year voyage, the kind of moment that should trigger swaths of pride and relief. But Palace, a Black student in an exceedingly white college, is frustrated, tired, on the verge of a breakdown. Her art has already shown at the Venice Biennale, a feat her all-Caucasian examiners don’t really know how to respond to. Even after they christen her a Master of Fine Arts, the mix of animosity and envy lingers acridly in the room. “There are lots of female artists...
The African Desperate (Martine Syms)
Early into Martine Syms’ The African Desperate, Mfa finalist Palace (Diamond Stingily) sits for her last exam in an upstate New York art school tucked deep in the woods. It’s the end of a three-year voyage, the kind of moment that should trigger swaths of pride and relief. But Palace, a Black student in an exceedingly white college, is frustrated, tired, on the verge of a breakdown. Her art has already shown at the Venice Biennale, a feat her all-Caucasian examiners don’t really know how to respond to. Even after they christen her a Master of Fine Arts, the mix of animosity and envy lingers acridly in the room. “There are lots of female artists...
- 10/21/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Paraguayan filmmaker Paz Encina’s “Eami” – being sold by MPM Premium – has won the top Tiger Award and a €40,000 cash prize at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the festival announced Wednesday. The 51st edition of the Dutch event, forced online due to the Omicron wave, will wrap on Sunday.
The jury, made up of Zsuzsi Bankuti, Gust Van den Berghe, Tatiana Leite, Thekla Reuten and Farid Tabarki, was impressed with her complex, magical realist take on the suffering of the indigenous tribes, calling it a “powerful film.” “It gave us the opportunity to dream and, at the same time, a chance to wake up,” they stated.
Inspired by the stories of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people, as well as their mythology, Encina created a tale about a young girl who embarks on a journey after her village is destroyed.
“All my films deal with an issue of exile, of the diaspora,...
The jury, made up of Zsuzsi Bankuti, Gust Van den Berghe, Tatiana Leite, Thekla Reuten and Farid Tabarki, was impressed with her complex, magical realist take on the suffering of the indigenous tribes, calling it a “powerful film.” “It gave us the opportunity to dream and, at the same time, a chance to wake up,” they stated.
Inspired by the stories of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people, as well as their mythology, Encina created a tale about a young girl who embarks on a journey after her village is destroyed.
“All my films deal with an issue of exile, of the diaspora,...
- 2/2/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Paraguayan, French and Chinese features among winners.
Paz Encina’s ecological drama Eami has won the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, at the 51st International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The jury said the Paraguayan drama placed a spotlight “on the global massacres of indigenous tribes”. The film depicts the violence committed against the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people, who lived in the Northern Paraguayan Chaco but were displaced by rampant deforestation.
It marks the second narrative feature of Paraguayan auteur Encina, whose 2006 debut Paraguayan Hammock won the Fipresci prize when it premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard.
Paris-based MPM Premium handles sales of Eami,...
Paz Encina’s ecological drama Eami has won the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, at the 51st International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The jury said the Paraguayan drama placed a spotlight “on the global massacres of indigenous tribes”. The film depicts the violence committed against the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people, who lived in the Northern Paraguayan Chaco but were displaced by rampant deforestation.
It marks the second narrative feature of Paraguayan auteur Encina, whose 2006 debut Paraguayan Hammock won the Fipresci prize when it premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard.
Paris-based MPM Premium handles sales of Eami,...
- 2/2/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Answering the SunInternational Film Festival Rotterdam have announced the full lineup for their "scaled-down" 51st edition, which will take place online between January 26 — February 6. As part of a full, nationwide lockdown, cinemas will remain closed in the Netherlands until at least 14 January. Tiger COMPETITIONAchrome (Maria Ignatenko)The Cloud Messenger (Rahat Mahajan)The Child (Marguerite de Hillerin/Félix Dutilloy-Liégeois)Eami (Paz Encina)Excess Will Save Us (Morgane Dziurla-Petit)Kafka for Kids (Roee Rosen)Malintzin 17 (Mara Polgovsky/Eugenio Polgovsky)Met mes (Sam de Jong)The Plains (David Easteal)Proyecto Fantasma (Roberto Doveris)Le rêve et la radio (Renaud Després-Larose/Ana Tapia Rousiouk)Silver Bird and Rainbow Fish (Lei Lei)To Love Again (Gao Linyang)Yamabuki (Juichiro Yamasaki)Big Screen COMPETITIONAssault (Adilkhan Yerzhanov)Broadway (Christos Massalas)Third Grade (Jacques Doillon)Daryn’s Gym (Brett Michael Innes)Drifting Petals (Clara Law)The Harbour (Rajeev Ravi)The Island (Anca Damian)Kung Fu Zohra (Mabrouk El Mechri...
- 1/7/2022
- MUBI
This year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the 14 films selected for its flagship Tiger Competition. Scroll down for the full list.
The selection is typically globe-trotting, with features ranging from Chile to China, Sweden to Israel, and Mexico to India. A jury will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, plus two special jury awards. On the jury are: Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Gust Van den Berghe, Tatiana Leite, Thekla Reuten and Farid Tabarki.
Last year’s winner of IFFR’s Tiger competition was Indian filmmaker Vinothraj P.S.’s Pebbles, which was the country’s contender for this year’s International Oscar race, though didn’t make the shortlist.
Today, the festival also confirmed the line-ups for its Big Screen Competition, which aims to bridge the gap between popular and arthouse cinema. Titles selected range from Romania to France and South Africa. The Tiger Short Competition was also unveiled.
The selection is typically globe-trotting, with features ranging from Chile to China, Sweden to Israel, and Mexico to India. A jury will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, plus two special jury awards. On the jury are: Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Gust Van den Berghe, Tatiana Leite, Thekla Reuten and Farid Tabarki.
Last year’s winner of IFFR’s Tiger competition was Indian filmmaker Vinothraj P.S.’s Pebbles, which was the country’s contender for this year’s International Oscar race, though didn’t make the shortlist.
Today, the festival also confirmed the line-ups for its Big Screen Competition, which aims to bridge the gap between popular and arthouse cinema. Titles selected range from Romania to France and South Africa. The Tiger Short Competition was also unveiled.
- 1/7/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Melvin Van Peebles. (Courtesy of Shadow & Act)We're deeply saddened by the news that the great Melvin Van Peebles has died. A filmmaker, director, novelist, playwright, and composer, Van Peebles was a pioneer of independent cinema, best known for his films Watermelon Man (1970) and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971). In an official statement, Van Peebles' son, filmmaker Mario Van Peebles, states: "He was a pioneer, a maverick and one cool cat." Exiled Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi has published an open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, discussing the struggles faced by refugees whose films are censored, banned, and restricted from being shown to the Academy. Ghobadi proposes "a refugee team of filmmakers; they can have their works viewed by a jury and eventually one movie can be chosen from the refugee team.
- 9/29/2021
- MUBI
Filmmaker is very happy to partner with the Filmfort Film Festival for its 2021 Filmfort Online Showcase. These films are available to watch here, free, on the site through Sunday, September 27. Check out the rest of the lineup at Filmfort and keep up via social @filmfortfest and #filmfort2021 #filmfortweekend. Enjoy! Changing Landscapes: Isle of Eigg dir. Aaron Farley, John Schlue, Alexander Falk USA 29 mins Do you see what I see? from Brad Abrahams on Vimeo. Do You See What I See? dir. Brad Abrahams USA, 12 mins Here you go: Halpate dir. Adam Khalil & Adam Piron USA, […]
The post Watch: Short Films from the 2021 Filmfort Film Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Watch: Short Films from the 2021 Filmfort Film Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 9/25/2021
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe are proud to debut the first episode of the Mubi Podcast: Encuentros in co-production with La Corriente del Golfo Podcast. This episode inaugurates a new space for dialogues between some of the most interesting voices in Latin American cinema. Despite knowing each other previously through social channels, this is the first time that Gael García Bernal and Colombian writer Carolina Sanín meet to think together about the relationship between film, acting and life itself. Their enthusiastic conversation covers theories and endearing filmmaking anecdotes about cinema's importance in our lives, and a shared interest in cinematic portrayals of the most essential bond: friendship. To listen to the episode and subscribe on your preferred podcast app, click here.According to a new interview with Telerama, Julie Delpy has turned down a fourth Before film by Richard Linklater,...
- 6/23/2021
- MUBI
The Herb Alpert Foundation has selected the recipients for the 27th Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, a group of 10 artists (up from five in previous years) who will each receive $75,000 and a residency at California Institute of the Arts, which administers the prize on behalf of the foundation.
The honorees — mid-career artists representing five disciplines including music, dance, film/video, theater, visual arts — are choreographer Beth Gill (dance); choreographer Will Rawls (dance); artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph (film/video); artist and filmmaker Adam Khalil (film/video); musician Toshi Reagon (music); pianist and composer David Virelles (music); playwright Kimber Lee ...
The honorees — mid-career artists representing five disciplines including music, dance, film/video, theater, visual arts — are choreographer Beth Gill (dance); choreographer Will Rawls (dance); artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph (film/video); artist and filmmaker Adam Khalil (film/video); musician Toshi Reagon (music); pianist and composer David Virelles (music); playwright Kimber Lee ...
- 5/18/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The Herb Alpert Foundation has selected the recipients for the 27th Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, a group of 10 artists (up from five in previous years) who will each receive $75,000 and a residency at California Institute of the Arts, which administers the prize on behalf of the foundation.
The honorees — mid-career artists representing five disciplines including music, dance, film/video, theater, visual arts — are choreographer Beth Gill (dance); choreographer Will Rawls (dance); artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph (film/video); artist and filmmaker Adam Khalil (film/video); musician Toshi Reagon (music); pianist and composer David Virelles (music); playwright Kimber Lee ...
The honorees — mid-career artists representing five disciplines including music, dance, film/video, theater, visual arts — are choreographer Beth Gill (dance); choreographer Will Rawls (dance); artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph (film/video); artist and filmmaker Adam Khalil (film/video); musician Toshi Reagon (music); pianist and composer David Virelles (music); playwright Kimber Lee ...
- 5/18/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As we observe Native American Heritage Month, there are as many historical contributions to celebrate by our people as there are things happening in the current cultural landscape. Within cinema, there’s been a recent blossoming of films by Indigenous filmmakers internationally on the festival circuit and beyond that have been pushing the form and actively engaging with the very open-ended question: what is an Indigenous Cinema?
Well, what is it? There’s no one style, genre or format to answer that question, which makes this current moment exciting and palpable in terms of what it’s laying down for the next few decades of Indigenous filmmakers to come. In essence, it’s Indigenous artists expressing themselves through their own culture, experience and ultimately, their own lens.
A good indication of what’s going on now and how that future might track can be seen through the following directors and their films:
“Fast Horse” (2019) – dir.
Well, what is it? There’s no one style, genre or format to answer that question, which makes this current moment exciting and palpable in terms of what it’s laying down for the next few decades of Indigenous filmmakers to come. In essence, it’s Indigenous artists expressing themselves through their own culture, experience and ultimately, their own lens.
A good indication of what’s going on now and how that future might track can be seen through the following directors and their films:
“Fast Horse” (2019) – dir.
- 11/10/2020
- by Adam Piron
- Variety Film + TV
For too long, the stories of Native and Indigenous people have been told by Hollywood through the eyes of everyone but us. It’s an exciting time in film and television, with more Natives writing, directing, and developing content. We’re challenging images and stereotypes and wiping the war paint off the lens.
These are the films, shorts, and documentaries that Native storytellers have shared with us in the past 20 years. A celebration of diverse voices within our community — as you’ll see, our tribes and experiences are all different from each other.
For Native American Heritage month, here is a selection of films, documentaries and shorts to seek out.
“Four Sheets to the Wind”(2007) – by Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee)
This coming-of-age-film by Sterlin Harjo follows a young American Indian, Cufe, played by Cody Lightning, who leaves the reservation after his father dies. His father’s death prompts Cufe to...
These are the films, shorts, and documentaries that Native storytellers have shared with us in the past 20 years. A celebration of diverse voices within our community — as you’ll see, our tribes and experiences are all different from each other.
For Native American Heritage month, here is a selection of films, documentaries and shorts to seek out.
“Four Sheets to the Wind”(2007) – by Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee)
This coming-of-age-film by Sterlin Harjo follows a young American Indian, Cufe, played by Cody Lightning, who leaves the reservation after his father dies. His father’s death prompts Cufe to...
- 11/2/2020
- by Billy Luther
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSFor Vogue France, portraits of a stylish Jean-Luc Godard in his Swiss home by Hedi Slimane. The full program for the 2020 Venice Film Festival, now revealed, includes films from Lav Diaz, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ann Hui, and Chloé Zhao. This year's impressive jury (selected in light of travel restrictions) will include Cate Blanchett, Christian Petzold, Joanna Hogg, and Cristi Puiu. Recommended VIEWINGPresented by the Maysles Documentary Center, "After Civilization" is a series featuring documentaries that "employ speculative techniques to reckon with ecological crisis and the ongoing material violences of dispossession." The films, from John Akomfrah's Afrofuturist essay film The Last Angel of History to Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil's Inaate/Se/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place/it flies. falls./], are available for free until August 15. Madrid-based La Casa Encendida also has an ongoing screening series, entitled "Some Letters Make the Night Last a Moment Longer.
- 7/31/2020
- MUBI
The 2020 Berlin Film Festival, the first edition under new artistic director Carlo Chatrian, has unveiled its first wave of titles.
Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio, starring Roberto Benigni, will have its international premiere at the festival as a Berlinale Special Gala. The team have removed the ‘out of competition’ classification this year and those films will now play as Special Galas. Pinocchio is released theatrically in Italy this weekend and Berlin will mark its festival premiere.
“Garrone succeeds in re-telling the well-known story with his very own world of images. Although he is faithful to Carlo Collodi’s ideas, he has nevertheless created a very personal Pinocchio that is much more cheerful than we’ve experienced before,” commented Carlo Chatrian on the selection.
Also announced today were four films in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino program, which presents debut features. The section will open with Kids Run from Barbara Ott, whose graduation...
Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio, starring Roberto Benigni, will have its international premiere at the festival as a Berlinale Special Gala. The team have removed the ‘out of competition’ classification this year and those films will now play as Special Galas. Pinocchio is released theatrically in Italy this weekend and Berlin will mark its festival premiere.
“Garrone succeeds in re-telling the well-known story with his very own world of images. Although he is faithful to Carlo Collodi’s ideas, he has nevertheless created a very personal Pinocchio that is much more cheerful than we’ve experienced before,” commented Carlo Chatrian on the selection.
Also announced today were four films in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino program, which presents debut features. The section will open with Kids Run from Barbara Ott, whose graduation...
- 12/17/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWanuri Kahiu on the set of RafikiRafiki director Wanuri Kahiu has announced her latest project, an adaptation of Octavia Butler's 1980 Wild Seed, produced by Viola Davis and written by novelist Nnedi Okorafor. Butler's novel follows two immortal African beings whose tumultuous rivalry takes them across pre-colonial West Africa to a plantation in the American South. Recommended VIEWINGFrom March 20–April 2, Vdrome is screening Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil's documentary Inaate/Se/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place/it flies. falls./]. The film "imagines new indigenous futures, looking simultaneously backward and forward." The new trailer for Hong Sang-soo's Grass is at once simple and cryptic, conveying one of many mysteries encountered by a young writer observing intimate interactions in a bustling cafe. The dreamy, video game-inspired images of Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel's Jessica Forever come to life in a new trailer.
- 3/27/2019
- MUBI
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